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Paul Harris

Banker and entrepreneur

By South African Index Editorial Desk · Published

Portrait of Paul Harris.
Photograph: Sunday Times · Source · Copyright retained by source publication. Resized and converted to WebP for this site.

Paul Harris co-founded the 1977 financial structuring business that became Rand Merchant Bank with Laurie Dippenaar and GT Ferreira. FirstRand later described him as the third member of its founding trio. [1][2]

Biography

RMB records that Harris, Dippenaar and Ferreira started the business in 1977 with R10,000 in capital. Their complementary roles built the venture into Rand Merchant Bank. [1]

Harris later became one of the three entrepreneurs associated with the formation of FirstRand. The group explicitly refers to him as part of the founding trio. [2]

He subsequently served as FirstRand chief executive. A 2009 chairman’s statement records his departure from that role and credits him with a central part in the group’s development over three decades. [3]

Key contributions

Co-founded the business that became Rand Merchant Bank. [1]

Served as a founding member and later chief executive of FirstRand. [2][3]

Career timeline

  1. Co-founded the precursor to RMB with Laurie Dippenaar and GT Ferreira. [1]

  2. Became part of FirstRand’s founding trio. [2]

  3. Ended his tenure as FirstRand chief executive. [3]

Associated organisations

Sources

  1. Rand Merchant Bank, Sustainability Report 2010: Corporate profile, 2010-06-30. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
  2. FirstRand, Chairman’s report 2018, 2018-06-30. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩
  3. FirstRand, Chairman’s statement 2009, 2009-06-30. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-25. ↩